Epix & CenturyLink Reach Carriage Deal

Epix, the premium cable network for now co-owned by Viacom, Lionsage and MGM, has reached a carriage agreement with CenturyLink. Under terms of the deal, Epix will provide Prism TV Premium customers access to Epix East and Epix West, Epix 2 and Epix Hits, and authenticated subscribers will be able to access more than 3,000 titles on Epix.com and via the Epix App. Broadband provider CenturyLink provides video to about 318,000 subscribers.

The multiplatform deal is the third major one Epix has made within the past year. It comes after MGM earlier this month began negotiating to acquire all of the premium cable network that it doesn’t already own from partners Viacom and Lionsgate in a deal that could value Epix between $1 billion-$2 billion.

Also this month, CenturyLink shareholders overwhelmingly approved a deal to acquire Level 3 Communications, an important provider of internet backbone services, for $34 billion. The merger will expand CenturyLink’s network to 64,000 route miles in 350 metropolitan areas including 33,000 subsea route miles connecting multiple continents. About 75% of the revenues would come from business customers, and execs expect to save $975 million in annual savings and synergies.